35th Woods Hole Film Festival

The Woods Hole Film Festival, the oldest film festival on the Cape and Islands, is celebrating its 35th edition with “Bold Films, Bright Futures: 35 Years of Films that Matter” from Saturday, July 25 through Saturday, August 1.

The line-up, culled from nearly 1000 submissions from around the world, were narrowed down to an exciting presentation of independent cinema, with 127 films from 24 countries, including 7 World, 2 North American, and 54 New England premieres by both first-time and veteran filmmakers. Forty festival alums, several of whom have gone on to become Oscar winners or nominees after their films screened at previous festival, are returning to help celebrate the milestone. Of note, is two-time Oscar winner and one-time Oscar nominee Ben Proudfoot whose short documentary The Baddest Speechwriter of All, co-directed by and NBA star Stephen Curry, a profile of 93 year-old Clarence B. Jones, Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer and speechwriter who sacrificed personal security to help shape history (July 30). Proudfoot’s A Concerto is a Conversation won Best Documentary Short at the festival and his Oscar-winning The Last Repair Shop screened in 2023.

The festival’s thematic strands include films and filmmakers from New England—particularly Cape Cod and the Islands—films about music and musicians, and films about science and the environment in conjunction with the festival’s “Bringing Science to the Screen” program. Screenings take place at Redfield Auditorium and Clapp Auditorium and Meigs Room at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, and the Simon Center for the Arts at Falmouth Academy. Panels and workshops take place at the Woods Hole Community Hall.

Besides screenings followed by Q&A’s with filmmakers, festival activities include: a master class on directing and editing documentaries with Filmmaker-in-Residence Lindsay Utz (her Sundance documentary winner, Prime Minister, screened at last year’s festival) on July 27; a panel discussion on July 28 called “From Indie to Oscar” with festival alums who became Oscar nominees or winners, featuring Kate Davis (the festival’s co-founder with Judy Laster) and her husband David Heilbroner (Traffic Stop), Lindsay Utz (editor of American Factory), Doug Blush (20 Feet from Stardom, Period. End of Sentence, and Icarus), and Jason Spingarn-Koff (My Octopus Teacher, Amy, American Factory, Icarus) whose short film The Coral Rescuers screens on July 28, Josh Sheftels (All the Empty Rooms) and Robin Hessman (Executive Producer, Mr. Nobody Against Putin); a workshop on monetizing your film on YouTube led by music documentarian John Edginton on July 30; a panel discussion on June 30th about making climate documentaries in challenging times hosted by PBS Science Correspondent Miles O’Brien, and one on the business of acting, moderated by Angela Peri of Boston Casting, on July 31; an awards ceremony; and evening parties with some of the best live music in New England.

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